Surfing's 'It Girl' has a hot brain

After finishing a surf session at her home break on the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier – the first in weeks after getting back in town following a whirlwind spin around the world – she peels off her wetsuit and slathers conditioner through her sun-kissed blonde hair.

A peek into her white Toyota Tacoma says a lot about the 17-year-old surfer.

A quiver of boards are stacked up in the bed of the truck; towels are everywhere. So far, typical surfer stuff. But then you see there's an archery set. And a set of golf clubs. And pieces of art work, some ceramics she threw on her last day of classes at Sage Hill High School.

"It keeps life interesting," Conlogue says of her varied interests.

"You don't want to be stagnant and do one thing. It becomes the norm, and not much fun."

The Santa Ana surfer is in a state of transition: From high school to college, from cute teen to stunning young woman, from charging smaller contests to traveling the world to compete in the big ones.

The last year has been fast-paced, and she's learned how to live life on the go as she darts around the globe. Everything, she says, is a blur.

"It's a lot, trying to balance it all."

STRONG START

Courtney sat in the surf, looking out toward the tens of thousands of spectators lining the beach near the pier in Huntington Beach.

It was the final heat for the women's title during the U.S. Open of Surfing last July, and Courtney was up against the previous year's winner Malia Manuel. She has competed in this contest since she was 11, and this was her moment to shine. But, if the competition wasn't nervewracking enough, the conditions were – the waves were huge, up to 20 feet.

"I definitely knew I had to be on my game," she says. "I was going as hard as I could."

It wasn't easy getting where she was. She had been knocked out of the junior event, and this heat – in the open against grown women — was her last chance to claim success. The waves were so massive a Jet Ski assist was necessary to get surfers out.

At one point during the contest, she found herself heading straight for the pier pilings.

"I just got clobbered by the whitewater; it just murdered me."

But then there was that sweet moment as she saw the clock ticking down. With 22 seconds left, she says, she tasted victory.

"I couldn't even believe I was winning."

She was carried from the sand on the shoulder of supporters — a long-awaited victory on her home break.

And, after that, Conlogue was on a roll.

In early August, as a member of the PacSun USA Surf Team, she took home an individual gold medal at the ISA World Games in Costa Rica, and helped her team to take home its first gold medal in 13 years.

Later in August, she won the SuperGirl Junior Pro in Oceanside, taking home $5,000 – the highest purse prize in history for a women's junior event.

But the next stop wasn't as sweet.

OK, THAT'S NASTY

Day after day, stormy conditions and gnarly surf plagued a contest in Brazil.

With time running out, contest organizers pushed the female competitors down the beach – while the men stayed in the main area – near an outlet spewed out raw sewage.

Other surfers shared reports of dead rats. Conlogue's board was slippery from the sewage.

"That showed me you have to deal with all kinds of things," she says. "If you have to go through that to get on the World Championship Tour, I guess it's worth it."

The main goal for Courtney is clear: Earn enough points this year at World Qualifying Series contests — the minor leagues of surfing — to nab a spot on the World Tour, the elite level all pro surfers strive for.

But getting there isn't easy. Literally.

As she arrived in Portugal for another contest, the semi truck bringing her rental SUV to the airport was in a collision and unable to deliver their vehicle. After haggling with the rental agency for hours, they settled on a VW Passat, similar to a station wagon.

They had 17 surfboards they had to strap to the top. The stack ended up being as large as the car itself.

Then after that contest, they needed to get to France. Word of volcano ash halting all flights streamed on the television at 4 a.m. as they prepared to leave.

They had no choice but to jump in the Passat and drive the whole way – boards stacked high to the sky — for a 12 hour journey.

"Every time we turned you could feel the sway of the car," Courtney says with a chuckle.

Things started looking up at that event. Organizers set out food and warm coffee for competitors, small things that mean so much when on tour.

And Courtney's surfing was stellar – she won the junior's event, and scored equal to 5th place in the overall 6-star WQS event.

WELL ROUNDED

Courtney started this month cramming for finals and preparing to take her senior trip white-water rafting.

She graduated from Sage Hill in early June. She plans to take her general education courses at Orange Coast College, and then transfer to Chapman University.

The young woman who surfed around the world last year – a dream for many of her peers – describes her college plans as "the next journey," in her life, and says she's excited it's "about to start."

She still isn't clear on her major – sports therapy, business, maybe something with art.

"My degrees keep changing because I want to do so many things," she says. "I want to create my own major."

There are three more contests through the year that will determine if she earns a spot on next year's World Tour. The next one is a 6-star event at the U.S. Open of Surfing, where she's hoping to have a repeat performance of her 2009 win.

She says she's going in with zero expectations, because expectations clog the mind.